Meditation

I spent my thirtieth summer camping in Canada - starting on Vancouver Island in Strathcona Wilderness Area, then to the island's west coast before heading inland to the Canadian Rockies. Vancouver Island is one of those places that reaches deep into my being and in this painting I was trying to find in me the elements that resonated most with the island. The estuaries, the strait, and the Pacific Ocean cradle the island and you always end up at one of those spots. This rocky outcrop on the west side of the island looking out to the Pacific was one of my favorite places and I returned many years later to contemplate, photograph and internalize the spiritual quality it evokes.

Oil Tanks

Continuing with the idea of Oklahoma's economy I was taken with the ubiquitous oil storage tanks. The newer ones are soft shades of blue, green or beige while the older ones are black and silver and rusty - and those are the ones that I find beautiful. Having painted the tractor in Panhandle Farming and gone crazy trying to paint its tires, I swore I would never paint another tire - but this painting really needed the truck so once again I painted a tire - only one this time, you will notice! I found this site on a rainy Sunday afternoon and love the way the cloudy sky works with the grays of the tanks, the truck, the storage shed and the reflections in the puddles of water.

A third "economic history" painting so far exists only in my photos. I found a building with a strange series of cone-shaped objects on the roof in Washington OK. I didn't know what it was nor did anyone I asked - so finally I drove back to Washington and learned it was a cotton gin. One day I will paint it and post it.

Panhandle Farming

In late July 2007, on my way home from a writing workshop in Taos, I drove through the Oklahoma Panhandle and was amazed at how beautiful that country is - I love it up there and am concerned about the effects and consequences of the extreme drought it is experiencing. So far I have made two paintings from that drive and have ideas for several more. This painting carries on the previous seasonal theme in that the fields have been harvested and the farmer is plowing them for the next crop. For the Discovering Oklahoma show, I wanted to give some indication of Oklahoma's economy and certainly farming has been a major part of the state's growth.

Fantasy Prarie Winter

This painting emerged from my brush one day as I was longing for snow and cold. Winter is my time of year, snow and cold are my elements - and the beauty of the season always speaks to me. The details of the landscape could be almost any place in central or western Oklahoma but they came from my mind rather than a specific vista. Having painted this, I wanted to recreate the general landscape at other seasons - thus Autumn Prairie and Rainy Summer came along in time.

Rainy Summer

The rains of 2007 created and nurtured lush summer pastures throughout the state. I saw more varieties and quantities of wildflowers in the fields than I have ever seen before. This painting almost seems over the top for an Oklahoma landscape but it represents the many fields, so full of color, that I saw as I traveled the state finding vistas for my Discovering Oklahoma show.

Autumn Prairie

In 2007, Oklahoma had a very rainy spring and summer. This is the first of three paintings showing the lushness of the prairie landscape in such a wet year. The colors of the vegetation, vibrant and varied, complement the green of the cedars and the gray-blue sky before an approaching storm.

Eroding Stone

This recent painting is one of my favorites for several reasons. It is the first time I used a 12 x 36 canvas and I love the vertical form. It is the perfect size for this painting of a water-eroded crevice in a huge (maybe 30' high) boulder in Robber's Cave State Park. Earthforms and water are what speak to me and this painting relates to both. It is also a different style of painting than I have done before and I like the play of the intense realism of the rock at the bottom against the more abstract face of the boulder with shadows from a nearby tree flowing across it. The contrast between the subtle and brighter colors also pleases me.

Snags

One surprise for me was the realization that I love to paint water. This small 8 X 10 painting of tree stumps in Lake Paul's Valley is the only one so far where water is the primary subject. The snags serve mainly as objects to provide reflections in the water. Trees and vegetation on the nearby shore give colored shadows to the blue sky reflected in the lake on a cloudless day.

Red Earth

This is another early painting - from a photo I took of an eroding hillside just north of Norman. Earth and earth forms fascinate me - I love the feel of it and the way it molds itself on the bones of the earth. The red clay of Oklahoma is rich and beautiful and the way in which this hillside was eroding into a gully is quintessential Oklahoma earth. This painting now belongs to an artist friend who has been a mentor since my early attempts at painting. I usually don't frame my paintings but he has surrounded this painting with a magnificent frame which gives it a presence that I never knew was there.

Piers

Twenty years ago as I was taking a back road to work, I went past the piers supporting the 23rd Street on-ramp to I-235 in Oklahoma City. These utilitarian structures had such beauty in their symmetry with the light shining through that I brought my camera the next day and shot several photos. There is a spiritual essence to this view of the piers that belies their functionality, and that ambiguity still intrigues me. This painting evokes a deep response in some people and the friend who bought it is such a spiritual being that I know it has found its perfect home in her home.

From my first painting to my most recent one, an "accidental" painting that is pointing me in a whole new way. I had toned a canvas with a rich orange sienna and one day picked up a brush and loosely sketched the trees and their reflections. I started painting in the background but couldn't stop looking at the painting as it was. An artist friend came over one day, saw it, and said "That's a finished painting." That encouragment was all I needed to hear. I softened some edges and put down my brush. I love this painting - the transitory and transitional sense of nature it imples as well as the rich colors on the canvas. The first person I showed it to bought it, put it in his office, and many people have seen and responded to it. This is the direction I will be exploring in my next paintings.

First real painting

Learning to blog is an interesting experience. I think each day I will post a picture with commentary about it. This abstract of the mission ruins at Quarai in New Mexico is one of the first paintings I ever did - long before taking classes. It is acrylic on masonite, painted on the rough side since I didn't know any better. It is still one of my favorite paintings because it reminds me of the strength and mystery of those walls as well as the contrasting cultures which played out their narratives within.